The present invention is directed towards a wall box dimming system and more particularly a wall box dimming system of the type which controls the intensity level of a plurality of groups of lights in accordance with a plurality of preset scenes.
Systems which control the intensity level of a plurality of lights in accordance with any one of a plurality of preset scenes are well known. An exemplary system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,660 incorporated herein by reference which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Such systems typically include a control panel for entering information concerning the intensity levels of each scene and for determining which particular scene is presently active (i.e. is presently controlling the intensity of the multiple groups of lights). The control panel will normally include a plurality of slide potentiometers, each of which controls the intensity of a respective group of lights for a respective scene. By way of example, the dimmer system can include four slide potentiometers for each of four different scenes for a total of 16 slide potentiometers The operator of the dimmer system presets the potentiometer positions, and thereby the dimmer levels, for each scene depending upon the lighting effects desired. The control panel will also typically include four push buttons, each associated with a different scene, for enabling the operator of the system to switch control over the light intensities from scene to scene and a fifth button to enable the operator of the system to turn all lights off. Such systems also include power control electronics for controlling the intensity of the lights in accordance with the information entered into the control panel.
In most prior art systems, the power control electronics are in a module located remotely from the control panel. The control panel will typically be situated at a convenient, easily accessible location such as a wall adjacent a maitre'd station in a restaurant while the power control electronics module will be located at a remote, less easily accessible location such as a closet.
In the present invention, the power control electronics are preferably located in a housing which fits into a standard four gang wall box and the control panel is coupled to the power control electronics assembly. Such a compact unit is highly desirable in terms of cost, limited space requirements and the convenience of mounting the entire dimming system assembly in a standard four gang wall box.
While such wall boxes are relatively wide, their height is relatively small. A control panel having dimensions substantially equal to those of the wall box would be aesthetically unpleasing. For this reason, it is desirable for the height of the control panel to be greater than the height of the standard four gang wall box and that the position of at least some of the control switches which enable the operator of the dimming system to switch control over the dimming levels from scene to scene be located at a position below the bottom of the wall box. The control panel should also be as thin as possible to project a small distance from the wall in which the wall box is mounted.
The slide potentiometers which control the intensity levels of the lights are normally preset and left at a given intensity level for relatively long periods of time. For this reason, access to the control arms of the potentiometers should normally be limited so that the dimming settings are not accidentally changed. To this end, a pivotal window forms part of the control panel and pivots between a closed position wherein the control arms of the potentiometers are covered and an open position wherein the control arms are exposed. When it is desirable to change the position of the potentiometers so as to change the intensity level of a given scene, the window is pivoted into the open position It is preferable that the window be latched in the open position so that the operator of the dimming system can adjust the lighting levels without having to manually hold the window in the open position.